IACHR Grants Precautionary Measures in Favor of Fray Pascual Claro Valladares in Cuba

July 3, 2024

Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued Resolution 41/2024 on June 30, 2024, to grant precautionary measures in favor of Fray Pascual Claro Valladares in Cuba, in the belief that he faces a serious, urgent risk of suffering irreparable harm to his rights to life, personal integrity, and health.

The request for these precautionary measures said that Claro Valladares was arrested on August 24, 2022, after taking part in peaceful protests in Nuevitas, Camagüey. Since he was arrested, he was allegedly transferred to several prisons where he was held incommunicado, in isolation, and in severely unsanitary conditions. Over that period, he was subjected to repeated interrogation to force him to incriminate himself and he was subjected to ill-treatment by other inmates and by penitentiary officers, including a beating in February 2023 that caused him injuries that were never documented.

In March 2023, he was transferred to the Cerámica Roja prison, where he continued to be subjected to harassment and repeated interrogation until October 2023. Conditions in that detention facility are allegedly inadequate, with insufficient food and personal hygiene supplies. In April 2024, Claro Valladares tried to commit suicide after being sentenced to 10 years in prison for sedition. His suicide attempt was handled with negligence—he was not provided with the psychiatric care he needed and he was put in isolation. Further, penitentiary officers have threatened to end his chances of being released on parole and accessing medical care, family visits, and deliveries of food and medicine if he and his mother continue to publicize his case and to denounce the rights violations he is subjected to. The State failed to respond to the IACHR's request for information.

After assessing the information provided by the party who requested these precautionary measures and considering the Cuban context, the Commission found that Claro Valladares was in an especially vulnerable position. The IACHR found that the fact that Claro Valladares had been described as a "counterrevolutionary" and his own position against the Cuban government had led to severe isolation, intimidation, beatings, and threats to end any benefits he might enjoy. The IACHR took into particular consideration his suicide attempt, noting that instead of getting the psychiatric care he needed he had been punished with isolation and penitentiary officers had dismissed his condition. Consequently, in keeping with Article 25 of its Rules of Procedure, the IACHR asked the State of Cuba to take the following action:

1. Adopt any measures necessary to protect the rights to life, personal integrity, and health of Fray Pascual Claro Valladares
2. Implement any measures necessary to ensure that the beneficiary's conditions of detention reflect the applicable international standards (in particular, by ensuring that he is not subjected to threats, intimidation, harassment, and other forms of violence and that he undergoes all necessary medical examinations and is prescribed and provided appropriate medical treatment)
3. Come to an agreement with the beneficiary and his representatives concerning any measures that need to be taken
4. Report on any actions adopted to investigate the alleged events that gave rise to the adoption of these precautionary measures, in order to prevent such events from happening again in the future

The fact that these precautionary measures have been granted and their adoption by the State do not entail a prejudgment on a potential petition that may be filed before the inter-American system to allege violations of rights protected by the applicable instruments.

A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 157/24

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